Okay, if you know anything about RV water pressure regulators, you are probably rolling your eyes at this one. You might wonder how I can write an entire post about “installing” a water pressure regulator when, really, there is only a single step. Screw the regulator on to the end of your hose.

Fair enough. Still, this hack is worthy of a post because it comes with a story. Yep, the kind of story where I learn yet another lesson the hard way. Seriously, I’ll be glad when the day comes when I no longer have to say that. I anxiously await the day I report that I learned a lesson the easy way.

The Story

Before arriving at the David Crockett State Park, I’d been plugged in to four different water sources with no problems. So, I get to my spot and start the process of settling in which includes unhooking the trailer from the van and hooking the trailer up to the electric/sewer/water sources.

At the David Crockett State Park campground, there is only electric and water. No sewer. As I’ve done four times before, I attached one end of my water hose to the trailer and the other to the water source. In this case, a spigot rising about three feet out of the ground.

Then, I pulled the C-shaped handle all the way up to open the water. The water threaded through the hose and made its way into the rig. Then I heard a whoosh sound, like water exploding outward. It lasted only a few seconds, then it stopped.

I walked to the other side of the rig where the sound came from and water was dripping out from the compartment where the tankless water heater resides. Back to the spigot, I closed the water. I double checked all my connections.

I opened the water a second time. No bursting water sounds. Inside the rig, I tested both the kitchen and bathroom faucets. Everything seemed okay. So, I figured everything was okay. The sound I heard must’ve just been a fluke.

But about an hour later, my rig started growling. I don’t know how else to explain it. The sound, like before, came from the back curbside of the trailer, where the water heater lives. I went outside to investigate. Water was not dripping from the compartment. However, the inside of the compartment was wet. Then I discovered water dripping from the weep hole on the underside of the fiberglass.

Not knowing what to do and not wanting to make the problem worse, I turned off both the water and the water heater. Then I did what I always do when I get stuck. I wrote an email to Oliver. By the way, it was through this process I learned the term weep hole. In my email, I called it the “silver cuppy thing.”

The service manager has gotten quite a few emails from me since I picked up the trailer last October. He’s quick to reply, usually within a business day. It was late afternoon so it wasn’t likely I’d hear back that day.

And I didn’t. That night, I kept replaying the step-by-step of what happened and what I heard. I wanted to try to work it out for myself, if it was possible. So, I did as Winnie the Pooh, does…think, think, think.

Let me pause here to acknowledge that many of you might have diagnosed the problem right away. But my experience to that point with the same type of water source led me to not even consider the water source. After all, it worked four times previously.

I believed the problem was my rig. I felt strongly the problem had to do with my propane. “Apples and oranges,” you might be saying. But the only thing that was different between the setup at Davy Crockett State Park and the other times was that I pulled into Davy Crockett State Park with both propane tanks closed.

I hadn’t opened a tank before I hooked up the water. It’s not totally apples and orange since you do need the propane in order to heat the water in the water heater.

This might sound stupid. Maybe it is. But as I’ve said before, without any foundation in RVing, without ever having used propane before, without every having dealt with plumbing or electrical issues (aside from calling a repair person), I have no experience to draw on when trying to diagnose a problem.

And when you don’t know anything, every possibility is on the table. Even a propane problem when you find water in the water heater compartment.

If All Else Fails

You know what they say? If all else fails, read the manual?

My bad experience with condensation left me with the impression that the manual wasn’t ever going to be of much use. It certainly hadn’t been in that situation. But since nothing else occurred to me, I decided to give it a chance. In addition to the Oliver manual, I also have a manual for every component on the rig including the tankless water heater.

After review–it actually did help to read it–I concluded the problem probably had nothing to do with the propane and everything to do with water pressure. It was dark by then so trying to fix the newly-diagnosed problem had to wait.

Bright and early the next day, I dug through the trailer’s basement (that’s the outside storage area at the back of the rig above the two water source ports). Inside a tub labeled “Miscellaneous,” I found the brass water pressure regulator, still in the packing.

The brass water pressure regulator was included in the tools I received during my Oliver orientation. However, what my orientation didn’t include was the edict to put it on the end of my hose and never take it off.

I peeled the regulator out of the cardboard and plastic package, unscrewed the hose at the spigot, screwed the regulator to the end of the hose and then screwed the hose back into the spigot.

Moment of truth.

I tried to slowly open the water though it doesn’t really work that way. There is “off” until you get to “bursting-out-of-the-spout-on.” Still, I felt better going slow until the handle was all the way up and water flowing into my rig. No water bursting noise.

I turned it off again. Then went to the water heater and turned it on. And, because it couldn’t hurt, I opened one of the propane tanks.

For the final time, I opened the water. Still, no noises. No water dripping from the weep hole. And the inside of the water heater compartment was dry.

Inside the rig, I opened the water in the kitchen. It spit and sputtered but I didn’t panic because I’d seen that before. It’s caused by air in the line. I kept the tap open until the water ran smooth. I did the same in the bathroom.

Had I been hooked up to sewer, I would’ve let the water run for a while to really test everything. But since my gray tank was going to have to hold all my used water for the next four weeks, I shut the water off once it came out smooth.

I wrote a second email to Oliver, explaining my process and asked, “Does that sound like I fixed it?”

The short answer: “Yes.”

And he advised keeping the regulator on the hose at all times. No kidding.

It was such a huge relief that I didn’t break something And, even though it took several hours from start to finish, I was kind of proud of myself for diagnosing and fixing the problem. Who cares if the solution only had one step?

If you are an RVer, do you use a water pressure regulator?

Links to Referenced SSL Blog Posts Above:

• How to Grow Mold in 30 Days: A Cautionary Tale